Alfa Romeo 4C Spider confirmed, enters production in 2015

Take a look at this for a beautiful machine. It’s a drop-top Spider version of the already-mouthwatering Alfa Romeo 4C. It’s just made its debut at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland.

Showcasing a similar sort of design theme as the 4C coupe, which will go on sale in Australia later this year, the 4C Spider is set to remain as a high-performance, lightweight driving machine only offering the bliss of open-top motoring.

The removable roof is made from lightweight canvas not only to keep weight to a minimum but also to keep the centre of gravity low to maintain handling performance. Alfa says revisions made to allow for the open-top design have only added around 60kg to the 4C’s 895kg weight.

It comes with special carbon fibre roll over bars, a carbon fibre windscreen frame, and a carbon engine cover instead of the coupe’s glass setup.

The version on display is labelled as a 4C Spider Design Preview, which means the production version may not be exactly the same as this. It does debut a new titanium exhaust system with carbon Akrapovic rear outlets though, featuring a button-operated valve.

In the engine compartment the same 1.75-litre turbocharged, direct injected four-cylinder engine resides. It produces 177kW and 350Nm, capable of flinging the sportster from 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds – the same as the coupe.

Alfa says a production version will arrive in 2015. What a stunning machine.

The coupe lands in Australia in a few months with prices starting at $75,000.

Brett is the editor and founder of PerformanceDrive. He's obsessed with driving, having played with Matchbox cars until he was tall enough to drive a real one. After initially working as a mechanic, Brett earned a degree in journalism and entered media as an editorial assistant at Top Gear Australia magazine. He then worked at CarAdvice.com.au. His dream is to live next door to the Nurburgring in Germany.